Michigan Bright Water Storytelling Festival 2026
Gloria Cangelosi
Tellabration™ Concert – “Coming Home” • 7:30-9:00 pm
Gloria Cangelosi is a lover of stories. Her stories come from life as a parent of five, a retired elementary teacher, a traveler of the world and of course, classic literature. Her positive take on life will refresh your soul.
Allison Downey
Workshop “Bring it home! Crafting winning stories for StorySlams” • 2:00-3:30 pm
Allison Downey is an award-winning singer-songwriter, storyteller, educator, speaker, and executive story coach. She has performed and presented nationwide—from The Moth Mainstage to Lincoln Center Theatre to winning the 2025 National Storytelling Festival’s StorySlam. Based in Kalamazoo, MI, Allison is currently developing a memoir and a one-woman musical storytelling show.
Jane Fink
Workshop “Shake It Up and Dump It Out” • 10:00-11:30 am
Tellabration™ Concert – “Coming Home” • 7:30-9:00 pm
Jane Fink has been telling stories since she was five. A well-appreciated local storyteller, Jane has performed at the Howell Opera House, the Ann Arbor Ark, and countless AASG storyfests, children’s concerts and house concerts. Jane has produced concerts at the Dexter District Library and The Encore Musical Theatre in Dexter.
Gwendolyn Lewis
Tellabration™ Concert – “Coming Home” • 7:30-9:00 pm
Storyteller Gwen, from the Detroit area, has been complimented on her interactive style of working the stage. She has shared the Art of Storytelling with youth and adults for fifteen years, in schools, libraries, and festivals. Gwen has also touched the lives of many with her reenactments of Maya Angelou and Coretta Scott King.
Luunappi
Tellabration™ Concert – “Coming Home” • 7:30-9:00 pm
Luunappi is a Finnish term for a snappy sound to the ear. Patrick Niemisto and Norm Wheeler create a grab bag of family and children’s entertainment. From Woody Guthrie and Bill Staines to J. W. Riley and Dr. Seuss, the duo layer classical and original material to show you a magical world of sneetches and goblins, skunks and hoboes, shipwrecked sailors, grown-ups in the sauna, and kids with dirty rooms.
Greg Weiss
Workshop “Come to the Table” • 4:30-5:30 pm
Tellabration™ Concert – “Coming Home” • 7:30-9:00 pm
In the spirit of “to thine own self be true”, Greg tells tales where food, family, and folklore find common ground. He has several programs in his Tales From the Spaghetti Pot series. Plus he has been telling a one man Dickens’ A Christmas Carol for over twenty years.